By Andrew McCartyShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberThe Ole Miss Rebels are in the thick of the College Football Playoff and a win over Mississippi State in the final game of the regular season would likely see Lane Kiffin and company hosting a playoff game - if he's there.
Kiffin appears to be the No. 1 option for Florida; who fired head coach Billy Napier, and LSU; who fired head coach Brian Kelly. If Florida and LSU don't want to wait until the end of the College Football Playoff to name Kiffin their head coach, he could choose to leave Ole Miss before the playoff - something he lamented in the SEC coaches teleconference this week.
“If a team wanted a Playoff coach, this was bound to happen,” he said. “Just looking from the outside, not talking about myself, there’s a systematical problem. It used to be players were in it, and they still are a bit with the portal timing, and look at the Penn State quarterback (Beau Pribula) a year ago. That’s a systematical issue, a calendar issue. The subject is probably, until something changes, going to be an issue for years.”
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What happens if Kiffin does, in fact, leave Ole Miss before the College Football Playoff? Chris Vannini of The Athletic revealed the Rebels have two choices for interim head coach to lead the team through the playoff.
"So what if Kiffin doesn’t make a choice before or shortly after the Egg Bowl? What can Ole Miss actually do? They won’t fire him and deal with the costs of that, but the Rebels have a plan," Vannini wrote.
"If necessary, defensive coordinator Pete Golding or quarterbacks coach Joe Judge are the most likely interim head coaches, according to industry sources. Judge spent two years as the New York Giants coach (and, coincidentally, is a Mississippi State alum)."
For now, Kiffin made it clear he plans to coach in the Egg Bowl on Nov. 28.
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